Alberic Magnard was a French composer who never attained great fame, but is known to connoisseurs for his beautifully crafted symphonies and tone poems. The cycle of 7 Promenades, of which I post the first here, is his only piano work as far as I know. Maddeningly unpianistic, and sometimes very awkward, I find them of great beauty and intensity. I hope to post the other items in the not too distant future.

Fantastic! Never heard of this but I agree to the beauty and intensity. Almost hypnotic to listen to. Reminds of early Scriabin. If it is awkward it does not show in your recording, the flow appears effortless.

Never heard of Magnard. Very interesting piece here, and well played. I agree with Joachim, sounds lke Scriabin, I think I can hear some "mystic chords." It does sound a little awkward at places, like legato isn't possible, despite the fact that it would be a more suitable articulation. I agree it has a great beauty and intensity, not unlike that of the Griffes Monica posted late last year.

_________________"I don't know what music is, but I know it when I hear it." - Alan SchuylerRiley Tucker

Yes, very nice find Chris, and well played. Don't know about the mystic chords, but perhaps when you get more of these up I'll have something intelligent to say.I never heard of Magnard either; nice feather in the Society's cap to have a recording.

Thanks all. I've not detected a similarity to Scriabin, early or late, but Magnard was somewhat influenced by Wagner. If you love listening to luscious orchestral music, do check out his symphonies, they're all on YT as is this piece, which is how I found it. The restof the cycle I have never heard and my interpretations may be a bit more original Magnard is also one of the few if only composers known to have killed someone. He shot a German soldier who was invading his property. I reckon he was a brave guy.

I know this set, as I printed it out soon after I came home from Paris and then played through the pieces. Your tempo on this first piece is fine except it sounds like you dragged a bit around bar 18. Also you played the tied notes on bars 10 and 11. Other than that, it was nice.

_________________"Simplicity is the highest goal, achievable when you have overcome all difficulties." ~ Frederic Chopin

I would not have thought anybody knew this set. Did you not like it enough to go through with it ? I have to admit it is hard going at times, especially in Villebon. But I was delighted to find a splendid 3-voice fugue in Trianon Damn, I had never noticed these ties. Thanks for pointing them out. I'll need to redo it now... and to be honest I miseed one or two notes in the LH in the closing bars.

I had never heard of Magnard or his music. It has astonishing beauty! And your playing was excellent too. It's wonderful when really great late romantic music such as this is performed again. I read that this composer died defending his home during WWI. His house was then set ablaze and nearly all his manuscripts were burned. With that he became a national hero. Tragic indeed though! One is always left wondering what else he might have composed over a much longer lifetime.

I noticed that his Op. 1 is "Three Pieces for Piano". Ordinarily we're a bit put off by an Op. 1 as perhaps being a requirement for Composition class at a conservatory. But then there is Berg's Op. 1, his Sonata for piano. Similarly, I recall when I found and recorded Medtner's Op. 1, The "Prologue from Eight Mood Pictures"--it turned out to be of very high quality in every respect. So if you can find the music, Magnard's Op. 1 might hold some surprises.

Thanks for sharing this music!

David

_________________"Interpreting music means exploring the promise of the potential of possibilities." David April

Btw, I checked out "envoi" on google translate, it means "sending." Fair enough, but sending what?

Google Translate is not the right choice for a single word. Many words can have different meaning, and without some context (or even with it) a translator is not likely to make proper sense of it. Better to just type it into Google and pick the first hit, which is usually wikipedia, like here:

Thanks for the appreciation David, glad you like it so much. The main theme of no.1 reappears in nos. 2 and 7 of the set.

Rachfan wrote:

I had never heard of Magnard or his music. It has astonishing beauty! And your playing was excellent too. It's wonderful when really great late romantic music such as this is performed again. I read that this composer died defending his home during WWI. His house was then set ablaze and nearly all his manuscripts were burned. With that he became a national hero. Tragic indeed though! One is always left wondering what else he might have composed over a much longer lifetime.

Yes who knows what riches may have perished. Good job that courageous Magnard published many of his works on his own expenses. However, this page http://www.durand-salabert-eschig.com/f ... lberic.pdf suggests that most manuscripts were saved :L'édifice est brûlé, la plupart de ses partitions sauvées. Which would be strange given that the composer seems to have died in the blaze.So now I'm not sure what happened there.

Rachfan wrote:

I noticed that his Op. 1 is "Three Pieces for Piano". Ordinarily we're a bit put off by an Op. 1 as perhaps being a requirement for Composition class at a conservatory. But then there is Berg's Op. 1, his Sonata for piano. Similarly, I recall when I found and recorded Medtner's Op. 1, The "Prologue from Eight Mood Pictures"--it turned out to be of very high quality in every respect. So if you can find the music, Magnard's Op. 1 might hold some surprises.

Indeed I learned that there are a couple more pieces in the catalog. I'd certainly look into this op.1 if I could track it down - but I can't so far.

Thanks Heather. To me the piece has a strolling rather than dancing quality (but then I can't dance).I hope I'm doing Magnard justice. The following pieces are more of a challenge as I don't know how they're supposed to sound.

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